By Barçın Yinanç
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s upcoming visit to Athens comes at a moment of some confusion about Turkey’s relations with Greece.
The status of bilateral ties came under scrutiny after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece on the sidelines of annual UN summit in New York in September.
According to Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis, “The two leaders tasked the foreign ministers to explore whether conditions are favorable to initiate discussions on the demarcation of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.”
The Turkish side did not mention this specific instruction to the ministers, however, stating
instead that the next bilateral High-Level Cooperation Council meeting will be held in Turkey at the beginning of next year.
“Just because the two leaders turned their heads towards their ministers and said, ‘take a look at it’ does not mean there is a specific instruction,” I was told by an official from the Foreign Ministry in Ankara.
END OF EXPLORATORY TALKS?
Initially, the Turkish side chose not to contradict Gerapetridis’ statement in public. But then came his interview with a Greek daily on Oct. 7 in which he said that there is no question of continuing the past process of exploratory contacts, since “What has emerged is that we often found ourselves in a worse position at the end of each round than we were at the start.”
Was the Greek minister declaring that the exploratory talks that have been going on for at least the past two decades have come to an end?
Ankara gave an indirect answer to that question on Oct. 11 when Hande Fırat of the pro-government daily Hürriyet reported that “high-level diplomatic sources” had told her it was impossible to reduce all the issues in the Aegean to just one problem.
In the opinion of Firat’s high-level sources, “The maritime problems or those related to airspace are mostly related to each other. It is a legal necessity to approach them all together.”
‘ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT’
It seems nothing has changed in the positions of the two capitals when it comes to the Aegean. Turkey argues that if the two countries focus on just one issue, the lack of a solution to the
remaining problems will still have the potential to create tension between them.
Turkish diplomatic sources say that modest progress has been registered during the 64 rounds
of meetings of the exploratory talks, but that Athens has since returned to its “There is only one problem,” position, making further progress impossible.
While the prospects for finding solutions to the decades-old Aegean disputes have come no closer, both sides agree that there is a positive momentum in bilateral ties.
Fidan’s visit will aim at preparing the ground for the High-Level Cooperation Council meeting.
It appears that the two sides will look as if they are working to resolve the disputes even though they are aware that they will go round in circles and be unable to reach an accord. Having put elections behind them, both governments will avoid taking unilateral actions in the Aegean and will try to keep the waters calm despite the challenges mounted by their respective opposition parties.
In the meantime, they will seek to increase and consolidate cooperation in matters such as the economy, the fight against migration and climate change.
Mitsotakis knows he needs to avoid tension with Turkey to improve the Greek economy, says Professor Mustafa Aydın of Kadir Has University, Istanbul.
DISCONNECTION WITH CYPRUS
Both capitals appear content to avoid the Cyprus issue so that it does not cast a shadow over their bilateral ties.
Erdoğan’s meeting with Mitsotakis in New York came immediately after he had issued a strong call for international recognition for Turkish Cyprus in his speech to the UN General Assembly. Yet his remarks did not have any negative impact on his meeting with the Greek premier.
“Relations between Greece and Cyprus have never been so bad. There is no doubt that Athens and Ankara want to disconnect Cyprus from their relations,” a Greek expert told me.
HALKI THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, whose claim to the title of ‘ecumenical patriarch’ is not recognized by Turkey, recently voiced optimism about the reopening of the Halki Theological School. The patriarch said that President Erdoğan had issued an instruction to the Ministry of National Education concerning the reopening of the seminary, which is located on Heybeliada island in Istanbul.
However, a representative of the Greek minority was less upbeat, noting that Ankara has been dragging its feet even over extending the work permits of some of the Greek priests in Turkey.
